Canada by Canoe

Very proud to be covered by ExplorersWeb - great recap of our trip up to Segment 4!

Canada Coast-to-Coast Paddlers Press On, Despite Mega-Portages » Explorersweb Three Canadian paddlers are now 53 days and 1,241km into their 8,000km canoe journey from the shores of Tadoussac, Quebec, in eastern Canada, to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, on the Pacific Ocean. Will Vyse, Georges Kirijian, and Nolan Aziz left Tadoussac on April 12. Section 1 of 19 The team has...

Sponsor shoutout today, to NRS for providing the crew with drysuits for the trip. A total must-have for cold and wet days, these top of the line drysuits help keep us comfortable and dry, without unnecessary bulk. If you're looking for great paddling gear - check out NRS online for their latest innovations: https://www.nrs.com/

The trio was reunited for the first time since segment 1. With our spirits high, we dragged, bushwhacked, and portaged up the Bell River's many sets of rapids.

With a large road portage, we crossed into the Ottawa River watershed and entered the familiar territory of La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve. The massive lakes there allowed us to put down some serious distance.

Shortly thereafter, we passed through the crystal clear waters of ZEC Kipawa, a beloved park in Western Quebec.

On Lac Kipawa, we were faced with severe headwinds and massive swells. Regardless, we made our way to the Ottawa River where we finally laid eyes upon our home province of Ontario.

From the mighty Ottawa, we portaged around hydro dams and paddled up the Montreal River to our food drop in the beautiful town of Latchford.

The weather has warmed, the flowers are blooming, and the birds are chirping. At last, it feels like summer is here!

Thrilled to be considered among 7 Paddling Expeditions To Watch In Summer 2026, from Paddling Magazine https://paddlingmag.com/stories/news-events/expeditions-summer-2026/

Thank you Ville de Senneterre for sharing our adventure! True North Aid

Our third segment was a tremendous success! We paddled out of Obedjiwan happy to finally be off the road. While much of the Gouin Reservoir had thawed, we still had to slowly break our way through several enormous patches of ice. In spite of this, we made it to the western edge of the reservoir where we received more hospitality from our Obedjiwan friends!

From there, we hopped on the Mégascane River: our first real stretch of downstream travel. Thankful to be free of ice and massive portages, we took as much advantage of the favourable conditions as possible, often paddling around 60 km per day.

The upper Mégiscane consisted of large island-filled lakes connected by swift stretches of winding river. Huge areas of the shore had recently been burned by forest fires, making for an eerie and barren landscape.

The lower Mégiscane River had some very enjoyable sets of whitewater and solid currents which assisted us on our journey. As more tributaries joined the river it grew into a vast and powerful behemoth with some of the largest rapids we’ve ever seen! (We had to do a few bushwhacks to avoid the most dangerous ones.) The raw power and beauty of the seldom travelled Mégiscane cannot be overstated!

We hope our fourth segment runs as smoothly as this one did!

Second segment started off slow with us forced to portage alongside the frozen Ashuapmushuan River. Upon seeing a large thawed stretch of river, we attempted to paddle, but were quickly met with countless shifting ice floes, forcing us to bushwhack back to the road.

The weather began to warm as we made our way up highway 167 toward the Chigoubiche River; however, much to our dismay the lakes seemed to continue to hold on to their ice. We had no choice but to continue our multi-day portage along the dusty Route 212.

Throughout many of our gruelling days portaging the road we received food, water, and kind words from the Atikamekw people of Obedjiwan. After weeks of portaging, we reached their village where we were greeted by hundreds of people who performed a traditional cleansing ceremony with drums and singing! It was a beautifully surreal experience that we'll absolutely never forget! We owe an enormous thanks to the Atikamekw for their incredible generosity and hospitality during our stay in Obedjiwan and throughout this especially challenging section of the trip.

Satellite imagery has revealed to us that the lakes to the west have thawed, so we're quite hopeful that we won't have to spend any more time on the road in our next segment!

🚨Pop up alert🚨

We will be running a small table at Indigo Bay-Bloor on Saturday February 7th from 12-7PM. We are very excited to talk a little bit about some amazing canoeing books that have inspired us over the years. Come on by for some one-on-one chats and to pick up some stickers and information booklets that we will be giving out!